News: Cemetery rejects corpse of man killed by thunderstorm

The corpse of a member of staff of the Registry Department of the College of Education in Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Mr. Salami Adekunle, was on Friday rejected for burial by the management of llorin Muslim Cemetery.

The civil servant, who died at the age of 47 and hailed from Ilesa in Osun State, was said to have been killed by thunderstorm during a downpour as he was leaving the institution’s examination office for the Registry Department at about 10am on Thursday.

Our correspondent learnt that when his corpse was taken to the cemetery for burial, the management of the cemetery refused to allow the corpse to be buried there.

The coordinator of the cemetery, Dr. Abubakar Aliagan, told journalists that the cemetery management unanimously rejected that the remains of Adekunle be buried in the cemetery following an instruction that the corpse should not undergo Islamic rites.

Aliagan said that Muslims in the vicinity had insisted that his death was not an act of God, even though; he was described as a practising Muslim during his lifetime.

He said, “If the late Salami will be buried in our Muslim cemetery, we have to do it in line with lslamic rites,’’ Aliagan said.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the College of Education in Oro, Mr. Adesola Adewoye, Adekunle’s family would meet and decide on what next to do concerning the matter.